Stuart Andrews talks to Tim Lamacraft about the decision to sell Tarwyn Park

The owners of a conservation farm in central west New South Wales have been forced to sell the property, along with their family home, to make way for a coal mine.

Peter Andrews, bought Tarwyn Park more than 30 years ago, and went on to establish the property as an example of natural sequence farming, which he has become famous for.

Natural sequence farming is the practice of restoring degraded Australian landscapes to how they would have been, prior to European settlement and counts Don Burke, Costa Georgiadis and former Governor General Michael Jeffery, as fans.

After years fighting the introduction of mining in the Bylong Valley, between the Mudgee region and Upper Hunter, Peter’s son Stuart finally succumbed and signed Tarwyn Park over to Korean power company Kepco.

Initially, many of the affected landholders within Kepco’s Exploration Licence, resisted the company’s offer to buy them out, but when the largest property owner agreed to sell earlier this year, Mr Andrews felt the fight was lost.

For over a year, tales of corrupt coal mining deals in New South Wales have dominated news headlines.

There are no allegations of corruption over Kepco’s Bylong coal project, but it’s not without controversy.

Along with her partner Jane, Jodie Nancarrow has run the Bylong general store for over 20 years and believes the introduction of mining to the valley is changing the community.

“I’ve referred to it as going from flannelette to flouro”, she says.

“We live in Bylong because we love the valley, the mining fraternity are only living here because of the potential job prospects regarding the mine, so there’s no love of the land or affinity with the area.”